The Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE) index increased 134.44 points, or 1.51%, during the trading week to close at 9,027.71. Market capitalisation inched up by 0.8% to QR481.4bn versus QR477.8bn at the end of the previous trading week. Of the 45 listed companies, 29 ended the week higher, while 13 declined and three remained unchanged. Qatar Islamic Insurance Co (QISI) was the best performing stock for the week with a gain of 8.2% on 707.6k shares traded. On the other hand, Ezdan Holding (ERES) was the worst performing stock for the week with a decline of 3.1% on 967.2k shares traded.
Masraf Al Rayan (MARK), QNB Group (QNBK) and Barwa Real Estate (BRES) were the primary contributors to the weekly index gains. MARK was the biggest contributor to the index’s weekly increase, adding 56.13 points to the index. QNBK was the second biggest contributor to the mentioned gains, contributing 49.07 points to the index. Moreover, BRES tacked on 26.03 points to the index. However, Ooredoo (ORDS) deleted 9.84 points from the index.
Trading value during the week decreased by 37.1% to reach QR809.3mn versus QR1.3bn in the prior week. The banks and financial services sector led the trading value during the week, accounting for 45.8% of the total trading value. The industrials sector was the second biggest contributor to the overall trading value, accounting for 20.2% of the total trading value. QNBK was the top value traded stock during the week with total traded value of QR85.7mn.
Trading volume decreased by 30.1% to reach 36.2mn shares versus 51.8mn shares in the prior week. The number of transactions dropped by 35.2% to reach 14,439 transactions versus 22,273 transactions in the prior week. The banks and financial services sector led the trading volume, accounting for 47.7%, followed by the industrials sector, which accounted for 18.6% of the overall trading volume. Qatar First Bank (QFBQ) was the top volume traded stock during the week with 7.8mn shares.
Foreign institutions turned bearish with net selling of QR30.5mn versus net buying of QR49.5mn in the prior week. Qatari institutions turned bullish with net buying of QR71.8mn versus net selling of QR49.3mn in the week before. Foreign retail investors turned bearish with net selling of QR20.0mn versus net buying of QR2.1mn in the prior week. Qatari retail investors remained bearish with net selling of QR21.2mn versus net selling of QR2.4mn the week before.
Foreign institutions bought (on a net basis) $34.7mn worth of Qatari e
